Prof. Pelle Ehn is the author of the epilogue Utopian Things in the Ashgate book Design and Anthropology, edited by Wendy Gunn, University of Southern Denmark, and Jared Donovan, Queensland University of Technology, Australia. The book is part of the series Anthropological Studies of Creativity and Perception.

BOOK BLURB – Design and Anthropology challenges conventional thinking regarding the nature of design and creativity, in a way that acknowledges the improvisatory skills and perceptual acuity of people. Combining theoretical investigations and documentation of practice based experiments, it addresses methodological questions concerning the re-conceptualisation of the relation between design and use from both theoretical and practice-based positions. Concerned with what it means to draw ‘users’ into processes of designing and producing this book emphasises the creativity of design and the emergence of objects in social situations and collaborative endeavours. Organised around the themes of perception and the user-producer, skilled practices of designing and using, and the relation between people and things, the book contains the latest work of researchers from academia and industry, to enhance our understanding of ethnographic practice and develop a research agenda for the emergent field of design anthropology. Drawing together work from anthropologists, philosophers, designers, engineers, scholars of innovation and theatre practitioners, Design and Anthropology will appeal to anthropologists and to those working in the fields of design and innovation, and the philosophy of technology and engineering.

Medea is a transdisciplinary research lab at Malmö University, Sweden, where researchers address societal challenges through experiments and interventions. The research focus is on media, design, and public engagement. Learn more about Medea.

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